The purpose of this paper was to elaborate on the definitions of child abuse in order to improve the understanding of child abuse. The definitions given by the U.S. House Joint Committee on Child Abuse in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, and in research by Holden (1984), are cited. These definitions refer to the nature of abusive acts and the forms in which abuse occurs. Morris (1982) cites five different perspectives on the neglect component found in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act and the Holden research; these are: (1) a general perspective offered by Gils; (2) the perspective of federal guidelines as summarized by Morris; (3) a medical perspective from Robert ten Bensel; (4) an educational perspective, as offered by the Montgomery City, Maryland public schools; and (5) a social service perspective from Norman Polansky. In a literature review by Miller and Miller (1980), child abuse was explained in terms of eight categories: (1) physical abuse; (2) sexual abuse; (3) psychological abuse; (4) physical neglect; (5) medical care neglect; (6) intentional drugging to modify the behavior of a child; (7) educational deprivation; and (8) abandonment or lack of supervision. These definitions from differing professional perspectives provide dimensions that, when examined simultaneously, offer a diagnosis of child abuse that is more accurate than the ones often used. (BC)